You can find most of what you need to know about Copyright from a website like www.patent.gov.uk but in a nutshell you need to know that you don't need to register copyright, there are no forms to fill in and no fees to pay. You just need to make sure that your works are in a written or recorded form.

In the US you do need to register formally. Copyright law in the UK is very different from that in the US although while a number of things are different, the basic concepts are surprisingly similar.

Copyright is necessary because without it, anybody and everybody could make use of your works without paying you for them and then you wouldn't be so inclined to create anything in the future would you?

Copyright in a musical work arises automatically once it is recorded either in writing or by some other means. So when something is fixed in a tangible form then copyright is secured. Works can be recorded - and copyright may thereby arise - in a variety of ways including making a video, tape or CD recording of the work, as well as by the more traditional notation of a musical score. Under UK law, both musical and literary works are automatically protected from the time they are secured in some sort of material form. For your own protection it is best to ensure that you can prove a date when your work was in existence. So you could for example deposit a copy with a solicitor or bank manager and obtain a receipt. You will probably be charged for this service. Or you could send a copy of the work to yourself by registered delivery, leaving the envelope unopened upon receipt. Remember also to label the envelope so you can easily identify the work(s) contained within it.

You can transfer the copyright to some else. It can be bought and sold, inherited or otherwise transferred. A transfer of ownership may cover all or only some of the rights to which a copyright owner is entitled. First or subsequent copyright owners can choose to license others to use their works whilst retaining ownership for themselves. Copyright can exist independently of the item it belongs to. For example if you have bought or inherited a painting, you only own any copyright in it if that also has been transferred to you.

As a songwriter your time is best used in writing songs. It is important, however, for someone to take care of business and that is where the pubishing industry comes in. A publisher will make a deal with the songwriter whereby the songwriter assigns the copyright in his/her song to the publisher for an agreed period and in exchange the pubisher becomes responsible for all the business affairs. The publisher will try to find people to use your song, give them licences, make sure you get paid, share the money with you, usually 50/50. Mangoneworld's sister company STARLIGHT PUBLISHING can provide this service for you. Just ask Ask about Publishing Here

So Copyright Owners can control the following issues:-

1. Whether anybody reproduces their work.
2. Whether anybody distributs copies of their work.
3. Whether anyone performs their work publicly.
4. Whether anyone makes a derivative work e.g. records your song with a slight change of content.
5. Whether anyone displays your work (this would apply to paintings or sculptures rather than music).

So make sure you put your works in a tangible form i.e. written down or recorded and add the little symbol © somewhere on it.